Wikimedia Blog/Drafts/First ever Wiki Loves Africa photographic competition starts today

This was a draft for a blog post that has since been published at https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/10/01/african-cuisine-is-the-theme-of-the-first-ever-wiki-loves-africa-photo-contest/

Title ideas

• First ever "Wiki Loves Africa" contest invites photos from all over the continent
• First ever "Wiki Loves Africa" photo contest focuses on the continent's cuisine
• African cuisine is the theme of the first ever "Wiki Loves Africa" photo contest
  •  Support Anthere (talk)
  •  Support Isla (talk)
• African cuisine is the theme of the first ever "Wiki Loves Africa" contest

• ...

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Of all of the millions of subjects you can read about on Wikipedia, subjects relating to Africa have the least coverage. This is due to a number of reasons, but mainly because many people on the African continent do not know that they can donate their images, videos and audio to Wikipedia. We need help to show how rich, different and delicious Africa really is beyond the depressing headlines. As the two main organizers of Wiki Loves Africa, we (user:anthere and user:Islahaddow) hope that this competition will help close the gap in visual coverage of countries from Africa, which are currently inequitably represented on Wikipedia.

Wiki Loves Africa is an annual contest where people across Africa contribute photographs, video, and audio to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other project websites of the Wikimedia Foundation. The contest encourages participants to contribute media that illustrate a specific theme for that year. The theme changes each year to cover a universal, visually rich and culturally specific topic like markets, rites of passage, festivals, public art, and urbanity.

The theme for the 2014 photo contest is Wiki Loves Africa - Cuisine!

This year's contest will ask for entries that document the diverse cuisine across the African continent. Entrants can submit media that encompass the "foods", "dishes", "crops", "husbandry", "culinary art", "cooking methods", "utensils", "food markets", "festivals", "culinary events", "famine food" and any other issues related to cuisine on the African continent. The contest is designed to appeal to the pride we have in the food we eat; how it is prepared, what it looks like, how it differs from another type of food, which types of rituals may be observed, and how that cuisine reflects our diverse culture.

The contest runs for two months, starting on October 1st and ending on November 30th, 2014. The project will be run across the continent (and beyond). Wiki Loves Africa has teams on the ground in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, Tunisia and Uganda who will host specific actions like training and communication. Volunteers are encouraged to host Wiki Loves Africa events in their own countries, and entries from outside Africa will be accepted as long as they feature African cuisine. All entries will be uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under a free license and will be judged by a panel of experts from across Africa who will select the best media at the continental level, with a ceremony and prizes as deemed appropriate.

• The official international site is available at http://www.wikilovesafrica.org
  
• We will also post information about the contest on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wikilovesafrica
  
• And of course, you are welcome to follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/wikilovesafrica
  
• Last, you are most welcome to participate! Make sure to visit our landing page.

So please. If you live in Africa, get your camera and start shooting now!

If you don’t live in Africa but had the opportunity to visit in the past and have some pictures that might be relevant to the contest, please get them from your hard drive and share them with everyone.

Florence Devouard and Isla Haddow-Flood, Wikipedians.

P. S.: We would like to thank user:Romaine for the technical support to set up banners and use the UploadWizard. As well as User:Nkansahrexford for the set up of the website. And, of course, we thank all the volunteers who are helping out as well!.

P.P.S.: Some examples of pictures you may propose...

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  Nando's Restaurant in South Africa
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  A Malawian woman husks corn with a group of women in her village on the outskirts of Lilongwe, Malawi
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  Gatsby sandwich filled with calamari and chips for sale at The Fish Stop stall at Root44 Market, Stellenbosch, South Africa
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  Saville's Eastern Delights stall at Root44 Market, Stellenbosch, South Africa
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  Cauliflowers in Egypt
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  Kororima. The dried fruits have been pulverized so that the seeds may be removed. The ground seed is used as an ingredient in berbere. (Shashamane, Ethiopia)
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  Cooking equipment in ceramics, bamboo. Production Cameroon. Self-initiative with institutional grants.
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  Attiéké, couscous of cassava. Culinary speciality from Côte d'Ivoire
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  Pottery to contain olive oil exposed in Lamta Ribat, Tunisia
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  Local pottery in Guellala shop in Tunisia
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  Coffee Bean Roasting, Ethiopia
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  Ethipian coffee ceremony
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  Chips of Cassava plant (Manihot esculents) at Sawla market in Ghana's Northern Region.
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  Pineapple field in Ghana
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  Tea plantation and harvest near Mulanje Plateau, Malawi
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  Tajine
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  Etape de la réalisation de la pastilla
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  Marché à Praia, la capitale du Cap-Vert
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  Arta Culinary School student washes dishes after the exchange of homemade recipes. Arta, Djibouti
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  « Liboke » type de cuisson congolaise : la nourriture (le plus souvent du poisson) est cuite sur des braises à l'étouffée à l'intérieur de larges feuilles de bananier ou de citronnier liées par le haut.
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  Aloegrove Dining Room. Namibia
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  Festival culinaire en Tunisie.

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